Should I CF HD 7850 or buy faster single GPU card?

[Apocalypsee]

I have HD 7850 and quite happy with it but there are some games that it suffers like Crysis 3 and looking for an upgrade. Should I get another HD 7850 and CF or should I sold it and buy faster card like HD 7950?

 

[buildzoid]

7850 suffers from too little VRAM and crossfire scaling problems so go with the HD 7950

 

[XSI]

Im always in favor for sli or crossfire

hi, i would say crossfire, cheaper and more juice. Btw are you running 1GB or 2GB 7850?
If its 1GB sell it, if its 2GB crossfire it.

oh i just read your system spec. Crossfire will do fine for few more years. 2GB VRAM enough for 23" monitor or in other words up to 1920x1080.
Almost in all scenarios it beats 7970 GHZ edition and in many cases gtx680, plus if you add oc, i owuld say 2+ years you will do fine. Btw prices at the moment very low for 7850 and they solved micro stuttering and many crossfire issues.

 

[Deadlyraver]

If you care about performance per dollar, go for the Xfire setup. If you care about system stability on a good consistency, the single card solution.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

My advise? Hold off for a few more days until AMD releases it's new line up of video cards, and then either buy one of the new cards, or pick up a used 7970 from someone that does buy one of the new cards. Personally, I wouldn't spend my money on anything less than a 7970/GTX680 when upgrading from a 7850. The performance gain going from an 7850 to an 7870, 7870 XT or 7950 wouldn't be worth the cost. We are only talking about 17% performance increase with a 7950, but a 7970 GHZ edition card would be about an 40% gain.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I agree with BarbaricSoul and that is wait for the new AMD cards. But I do disagree with him about the 7950. A 7950 with 7970 clocks is only 5% difference, sometimes less. To me not worth the extra money imo.

Here. http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/34761-amd-hd-7950-vs-hd-7970-clocks/

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I agree with BarbaricSoul and that is wait for the new AMD cards. But I do disagree with him about the 7950. A 7950 with 7970 clocks is only 5% difference, sometimes less. To me not worth the extra money imo.

Here. http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/34761-amd-hd-7950-vs-hd-7970-clocks/

just remember, the 7970 can be heavily OC'ed also.

 

[Outback Bronze]

just remember, the 7970 can be heavily OC'ed also.

Of course. So too can 7950.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Right, and with both cards OC'ed, while both cards will preform better, the 7970 will still out-perform the 7950 by about the same amount. Not saying the 7950 isn't a good card, it is. Just saying that performance wise, I don't feel the 7950 will provide enough performance boost justify the costs of the upgrade. Remember, the OP's 7850 is OC'ed to 1100/1400, so the OC'ed 7950 will still only provide around 20% more performance from what the OP's 7850 is doing.

 

[Outback Bronze]

So based off maths the 7970 clocked at same speeds will only be 25% right? Justifiable upgrade?

I say wait for new cards and see what comes to the table.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

from the review you posted, the 7970 is 5-8% faster than a 7950 at the same clock speeds. The problem is getting a 7950 that can match what a 7970 can do. I admit I'm not very knowledgeable about how far an average 7950 can OC to. I know my 7970 is a terrible OC'er compared to other 7970s owned by members of TPU, but it can do 1175/1450. A 7950 would have to OC to around 1250/1550 or so to match my terrible OC'ing 7970.

 

[Apocalypsee]

My card is at 1200MHz core right now since there is VBE7 vBIOS editor to increase volts. I don't know what's lacking in HD 7850, it's plenty fast for a lot of games but somehow on Crysis 3 it lags in Very High setting.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

My card is at 1200MHz core right now since there is VBE7 vBIOS editor to increase volts. I don't know what's lacking in HD 7850, it's plenty fast for a lot of games but somehow on Crysis 3 it lags in Very High setting.

It's probably caused by only having 2gb of video RAM, and Crysis3 easily uses more than that in very high settings. If that's the case, the 7950 should stop it from happening with it's 3gb of video RAM.

 

[Outback Bronze]

From memory mate one of my 7950s did 1200+/1600 which is not bad. All I'm saying matey is that a 7950 ain't far off a 7970. Here in oz a 7970 costs $100+ more so to me they ain't worth it. Just remember dude that was my opinion.

My honest recommendation like u said buddy was wait for the new AMD cards. At least we can agree on something yeah. Cheers.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

It's all good Bronze, I'm not arguing with you, I consider this more of a debate than a argument. I have no bad thoughts, feelings or intentions towards you. Like you, I'm just stating my opinion, and to be perfectly honest, I'm bored and this is keeping me entertained.

Oh, and I'm not suggesting the OP buy a new 7970, so the price difference between a 7950 and a 7970 shouldn't be so much.

 

[Outback Bronze]

It's all good Bronze, I'm not arguing with you, I consider this more of a debate than a argument. I have no bad thoughts, feelings or intentions towards you. Like you, I'm just stating my opinion, and to be perfectly honest, I'm bored and this is keeping me entertained.

Lmao u r just like me. I was doing the same thing!!

 

[Apocalypsee]

I don't think it's the vRAM, because the vRAM usage using GPU-Z is pretty much the same at around 1.4GB in the same scene on Very High and High texture setting. One thing that is clear is the HD 7850 don't have enough power to run at Very High smoothly regardless of how much vRAM it have.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I don't think it's the vRAM, because the vRAM usage using GPU-Z is pretty much the same at around 1.4GB in the same scene on Very High and High texture setting. One thing that is clear is the HD 7850 don't have enough power to run at Very High smoothly regardless of how much vRAM it have.

Mate my (2) 7950s would only avg. 40-50 fps maxed 1920x1080. I cant remember the aa i put on it tho. So yeah your 7850 is struggling no matter what vram.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Mate my (2) 7950s would only avg. 40-50 fps maxed 1920x1080. I cant remember the aa i put on it tho. So yeah your 7850 is struggling no matter what vram.

My single non-GHZ edition 7970 running stock (925/1375) gets around 15-20 fps at very high settings @ 1920*1080 with AA disabled. Haven't tried playing with a OC on the 7970.

 

[kn00tcn]

crysis 3 is known to be real demanding

so what kind of budget?? what about nvidia?

 

[BarbaricSoul]

crysis 3 is known to be real demanding

so what kind of budget?? what about nvidia?

So you honestly think that 7 fps(difference between a GTX780 and HD7970 GHZ edition in Crysis3 at 1920*1200 res. according to TPU's review of the 780) is worth an additional $300-400. The cheapest GTX780 on Newegg is $629, cheapest 7970 GHZ edition is $329, and the 7950 is just over $200.

 

[XSI]

Well, still CF is better

You guys basically are recommending lower performance for more money. Like one of CF owners said: CF best Bang for buck. For the price of one 7850 he can get to 7970 Ghz edition levels. He already owns one card, i think best way to spend the money buy another 7850.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/47...2gb_in_crossfire_video_card_review/index.html
one of the reviews for CF 7850.

Because how much he will get for his 7850? half the price? ~75$?
If budget is unlimited, well that's another story.
And would be interesting to know how much of a price difference is in your country for another 7850 and buying new 7950 or in this case Gtx760 could be an option as well.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_asus_directcu_mini_review,17.html

 

[Outback Bronze]

You guys basically are recommending lower performance for more money. Like one of CF owners said: CF best Bang for buck. For the price of one 7850 he can get to 7970 Ghz edition levels. He already owns one card, i think best way to spend the money buy another 7850.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/47...2gb_in_crossfire_video_card_review/index.html
one of the reviews for CF 7850.

Because how much he will get for his 7850? half the price? ~75$?
If budget is unlimited, well that's another story.
And would be interesting to know how much of a price difference is in your country for another 7850 and buying new 7950 or in this case Gtx760 could be an option as well.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_asus_directcu_mini_review,17.html

Mate I said nothing of getting a 7970 or 7950. All I was referring to was, I would get a 7950 over a 7970.

I said wait for the new cards!!

But your right tho. Another 7850 would beat both cards but a 7970/50 probably comes close to 7850 xfire without xfire issues (I've never had any). If he did decide to go 7970/50 path he could xfire one of those later which would probably put 7850 xfire to shame.

 

[XSI]

he could xfire one of those later which would probably put 7850 xfire to shame.

that's xfire/sli later...will be same story all over again many people say that and when the day comes they recommend never single card solution again

i can agree, that wait until new cards announced and make decision than.

 

[kn00tcn]

So you honestly think that 7 fps(difference between a GTX780 and HD7970 GHZ edition in Crysis3 at 1920*1200 res. according to TPU's review of the 780) is worth an additional $300-400. The cheapest GTX780 on Newegg is $629, cheapest 7970 GHZ edition is $329, and the 7950 is just over $200.

i never mentioned any models at all, OP could get a $300 7970 or a $1000 titan, that's why i was asking about budget

i also would be comparing a 770 with a 7970 if we're talking about competing products

anyway wait for announcements, then decide

be aware of which games dont work properly with CF if you're going that route (euro truck sim 2, brink, the latest rome total war, etc), if most of the ones you want to play are good, then go for a second card